WASHINGTON — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden will meet virtually on Tuesday, following up on a phone call the leaders had days after Biden’s inauguration.
The meeting will focus on ending the coronavirus pandemic, growing the middle class, job creation and fighting climate change, Trudeau said in a tweet.
They’ll also discuss maintaining strong supply chains between the two countries and defense and security topics, Trudeau’s office said in a release.
Biden’s Cabinet will meet virtually with Canada’s federal ministers on a range of bilateral and global issues, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
The meetings suggest relations between the close allies and trading partners are thawing after tensions between Washington and Ottawa during the Trump administration.
The Biden-Trudeau relationship got off to a rocky start, though, when Biden canceled a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would’ve shipped more than 800,000 barrels per day to U.S. refineries from Alberta’s oil fields.
Trudeau was the first foreign leader Biden spoke to after being sworn in, and Tuesday will mark their first bilateral meeting.
Areas of mutual interest on the agenda include the COVID-19 response, climate change and the economic ties between the two countries, Psaki said.
